Thieves targeting charity clothing collection bins

Monday

Nov 5, 2012 at 6:00 AMNov 5, 2012 at 8:37 PM

Donna Boynton TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It might have been normal, seeing a minivan parked in front of a charity donation bin, were it not 1:27 a.m., and had there not been somebody inside the bin throwing bags of donated clothing out, rather than in.

Shrewsbury Police Officer Timothy Charland was on a routine patrol when he saw the minivan alongside the fenced-in donation area near Staples at 571 Boston Turnpike. Aware that thieves have been targeting charity bins, he went closer and he saw one man inside the bin, who later refused to come out and bolt cutters had to be used to retrieve him.

That October incident highlights a string of charity clothing donation bin break-ins, not just in the Route 9 area, but nationwide. The clothes are often resold in bulk with the thieves receiving a per-pound price.

In Shrewsbury, Marcos Anthony Teixeira, 18, of Brockton was charged with larceny over $250, breaking and entering in the nighttime and misleading a police investigation.

Valdir Barros, 25, of Taunton, had to be removed from inside the bin and was charged with larceny over $250 and breaking and entering in the nighttime.

“This has been going on for a while and it seems to be the same group of people out of Brockton,” Westboro Police Chief Alan Gordon said. “They come to communities like Westboro because of the higher quality of clothing that gets donated.”

Amara B. Valera of Brockton has been caught three times at the same East Main Street St. Vincent de Paul bin in Westboro — once on Oct. 30, 2011, and then twice more recently, with Eliseu Afonso of Brockton on Sept. 25 and then again on Oct. 17.

“There was one guy we interviewed who said he was doing it for his kid, but he was wearing expensive clothes, jewelry around his neck and high-end jeans. He wasn’t hurting,” Chief Gordon said.

St. Vincent de Paul seems to be the charity of choice for the bin bandits.

Frances E. Pike, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul in Worcester, said it has been a problem CMRK, the Northboro-based company that empties the bins, has noticed off and on for the past few years.

Mrs. Pike and CMRK have credited Chief Gordon for being diligent in pursuing those who steal from the bins.

“Right now so many people are out of work, so many families need help. If we don’t get the clothes to distribute to the people who need it, then it does impact us,” Mrs. Pike said, noting that St. Vincent de Paul not only helps the poor, but people in transition, such as those just released from jail and supplies clothes to some for job interviews. “This limits the good stuff we are able to do.”

The St. Vincent de Paul Society sells clothes at its thrift store, but also gives clothes to those who have received a voucher through one of its partner agencies, giving out about $10,000 worth of clothes last year alone through that program.

Mrs. Pike said sometimes she has noticed people going through the bins behind the Park Avenue headquarters.

“Here we’re trying to help, and the demand has kept increasing in the last few years,” Mrs. Pike said. “You’ve got to be pretty low when you start stealing from the poor.”

However, the problem is national and even international. One woman in Staten Island, N.Y., died in September when she suffocated after she climbed inside a box to steal clothes. As far away as England, there are widespread reports of gangs stealing bagged donated clothing. Closer to home, in Plainville, thieves have been caught more than 300 times in the past three years taking from the St. Vincent de Paul Society bins there.

“We are generally catching them in the act, with literally vans chock full of trash bags full of clothing — 10 to 15 bags, and we’ve made multiple arrests with that amount,” said Plainville Police Sgt. Corrina Carter, noting that this year alone there have been about 20 arrests related to stealing from charity bins.

“What we are seeing are groups of individuals coming in, taking clothes and grabbing whatever they can, going home and sorting it,” Sgt. Carter said, noting that most of the thieves caught have been from Brockton and Taunton and some, like those in Westboro, have been caught more than once.

“The better name labels they get their hands on, they are selling on eBay, at flea markets or swap meets, and what they don’t sell gets sent back to their home countries for people there to do what they want with it.”

Sgt. Carter said in her town most of the thefts are happening on Sundays — the day when the local St. Vincent de Paul shop is not open and when people have finished their yard sales or moving sales and discard what they no longer want at the donation site.

Once an arrest is made and the clothing is recovered, the police photograph the items and return it to their local St. Vincent de Paul store.

“People think this is a victimless crime; that these organized gangs are stealing items that no one wanted anyway, but it’s not. You are stealing from a charity that uses these items for a charitable purpose,” said Ed Resnick, executive director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society for the Archdiocese of Boston.

“By stealing these items, we are unable to provide people with money to help pay for fuel or electricity or food,” he said. “They are stealing things that can be profitable.”

Mr. Resnick said these types of thefts have been happening for years, and have increased in recent years as the economy has gotten worse and people have learned money can be made reselling used clothing in good condition.

“This is an underground economy that is working here,” Mr. Resnick said, noting that the thieves work in a team, usually with a smaller person — or a child — who can fit into the small bin openings to get inside. “One group we caught had a truck and a garage full of 55-gallon drums of better clothes that had been picked through, ready to be shipped out of the country.”

Mr. Resnick said many thieves are repeat offenders because the court system has been lenient in prosecuting them.

“They want you to feel like they were taking free T-shirts, but they didn’t — they took coats, jackets, clothes, things that have a value to them that we can turn around and use to help people,” Mr. Resnick said. “These are definitely organized criminals doing this. It’s not the old lady down the street who is poor. These are organized criminals.”